The Nice Guy
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Sakumo was an ex marine. A shy guy with a soft spot for strays when one day he gets a pretty new neighbor. Naru grew up in the witness protection program and has finally put her past behind her and is trying to start her life over. Sakumo/Fem Naru
1. Chapter 1

Yo, ya'll liked Awakenings so much that I thought I would try something else with a Sakumo Hatake/Fem Naru pairing. There will be no demons or monsters in this one save for the ones in my head and the ones in Naru and Sakumo's heads.

So hopefully you'll like this one.

Hopefully...

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The crisp October air was chilling when one went without a jacket but he'd felt he had no choice in the matter this time. Especially given the fact that gale force winds were sweeping across the city followed by rain.

He'd heard the pregnant cat that he'd been feeding recently, meowing as if in distress and had all but run outside in the pouring rain with a flashlight in hand and no shirt on to look for the little cali to make sure that she didn't get hurt.

He followed the sound of her meows out to the back yard, and tipped his head back to see her, her claws desperately clinging to the wood of one of his trees and she meowed even louder as she turned her dark little head to look at him pleadingly, her golden green eyes wide and frightened.

Her wet fur sticking to her body making her look like a drowned rat.

He stuffed his flashlight into his jean pocket and jumped so that he could grab the lowest branch and swung himself up on the swaying branch with practiced ease. Then once he was there he shimmied himself along the limb, sticking as low as he could to keep from having his head bumped by some of the limbs swaying violently above it.

Then wasted no time in climbing over to where the cali was and plucked her from the tree trunck and put her against his shoulder and gritted his teeth when she sank her sharp pointed little claws into his unprotected skin and used one hand to secure her in place before dropping out of the tree.

The cali meowed her displeasure at the sudden drop and tried to climb higher. And she might have if he hadn't had his hand holding her in place. However the hard part was over. All he had to do now was get her inside the house or under his porch, if she preferred, then he could go inside and dry off by the heater.

He started away from the tree, feeling the chill of the rain and wind finally sinking into his skin as the cali shivered against his shoulder and meowed pitifully. She was just as cold and miserable as he was which was probably why she didn't put up much of a fight when he took her inside and flopped down in his favorite chair, the cali still draped over his shoulder shivering, just a few feet from his wood heater.

He was sitting there petting on the cali and trying to calm her down and comfort her when he noticed something odd around her tail area and slipped a hand under her and picked her up and raised her a bit and lifted up her tail and blanched a little bit when he saw that she was in the process of giving birth right there in his lap.

_Well, I guess I know what her meowing was about now._ He thought as he scooped her up and stood then placed her in the chair and went to go find a cardboard box and grab some old towels while he grabbed the wireless phone and called the local vet to get some advice on how to make the cali more comfortable. After all, he was a guy.

What the hell did he know about birthing babies of any kind?

An hour and some trips to the bathroom to puke later (give him a break birthing babies was gross. he'd seen after birth! disgusting and horrible, afterbirth) Sakumo Hatake settled himself on the floor next to the box with the cali and her kittens with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and sipped on it from time to time while watching the mother clean her litter.


	2. Chapter 2

Yo, ya'll liked Awakenings so much that I thought I would try something else with a Sakumo Hatake/Fem Naru pairing. There will be no demons or monsters in this one save for the ones in my head and the ones in Naru and Sakumo's heads.

So hopefully you'll like this one.

Hopefully...

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Sakumo must have passed out at some point after the power went out. The cold coupled with the whiskey and the nights events, just went right to his head. He woke up laying on the floor of his living room just a foot or so from to the wood stove in the living room where he had moved the cali and her kittens so that they would be warm during the night.

He had an empty whiskey bottle- God had he really drank that much? He could have sworn that he had put the bottle down, and had a small bottle of scotch just an inch or so from him and a dark furred momma cat curled up on his chest.

He cracked his eyes open and looked around his living room from under his eye lids, experimentally at first. Then after a moment or so opened his eyes and sighed. Oh thank god, no hangover. That was just wonderful since he needed to shower, shave and go into town to get cat food and stuff.

He reached up and absently patted the cali's lower back and muttered in a rough gravely voice. "Aren't you supposed to be with the kids?" The cali jerked and chirped at him as he took a moment to pet her before forcing her to move off of him so that he could roll over onto his side and raise himself up off of the floor.

His spine, shoulder and knees popped as he slowly got to his feet and tried to work the stiffness out of his muscles by turning his body this way and that before rolling his shoulders and popping his neck. It took all of five minutes to get himself limber again- a trick he'd picked up while in the Marines where he'd worked as a seal for several years before getting wounded and being honorably discharged.

He'd been shot six times while trying to help out one of his friends. Three times in the chest while on his last job and while he seemed perfectly fine there had been quite a bit of damage to his lungs and heart. The wounds in his lungs had long since healed though sometimes he still suffered shortness of breath, almost like he had asthma.

And then there was the wounds on his heart.

The valves had been ripped open in three places and he'd had to have some muscle taken from another part of his body to patch the valves and keep himself from bleeding to death internally. He'd been in a coma for almost three weeks, his heart occasionally stopping then restarting thanks to his doctors.

After that he'd been told that the patches on his heart wouldn't work forever. Inevitably they would start to re open and when they did he could either _pray_ that an organ match was found or he'd die.

Shortly after that he'd been discharged from the U.S Marine Corps and told to find himself a nice quiet job and to live his life. He'd had trouble adjusting at first. After all he'd been with the Marines since he was eighteen and was now twenty five.

All those years of conditioning his body for combat had made it a little bit difficult to adapt.

Like wherever he heard a car backfire, he hit the deck and went for one of the many, many, _many_ weapons he had laying around. He still did morning excercises. Jogging, one handed push ups and whatnot. He still used his hand to hand combat training, his stealth training.

Why just a month back he'd saved a couple from being mugged.

He'd heard the woman scream while walking home from work and had turned around and gone to see what the problem was and had found a nice young couple being mugged by a guy in a hockey mask with a gun. He'd slipped up behind the mugger, and none too gently made him drop the gun by shattering the bones in his wrist, elbow and shoulder.

Making his arm completely useless for a while. Allowing enough time to subdue him while the couple ran away.

Once on his feet he collected his booze and empty bottle and made his way to the kitchen to make something to eat and go about his daily morning routines. He started frying up some pancakes and yelped and jerked when he felt something a little heavy hanging from the back of his pants by some sharp claws and half twisted his body so that he could look down at the cali.

She'd attached herself to his ass in an effort to gain his attention. Apparently she had smelled his breakfast and had sought to remind him that she was hungry too. He narrowed his mismatched eyes at her as he carefully pulled her loose and held her up in front of his face and growled at her. "Those pancakes are mine sister and if you think to have them, you'll fight me for them. And I warn you- I fight dirty."

The cali looked at him with those big eyes of hers and though he was determined to stand firm, he caved like a frigging deck of cards. It just couldn't be helped. She had babies to feed. And he didn't. He sighed and put her on the counter behind him and tapped her on the tip of her little nose and said. "Okay, okay, I'll give you some of _one_. But that's all you get beggar."

The cali meowed happily and sat down, curling her long fluffy tail around her body as she purred.


	3. Chapter 3

After breakfast (which consisted mainly of chasing the cali through the house after she pilfered his food) he managed to eat himself a piece of toast with an fried egg on it though- He stood in the bathroom of his cozy little three bedroom cabin, fresh out of the shower and was about to shave.

He ran one hand across the misted over glass of the bathroom mirror and looked at himself through the fog and blinked, barely recognising himself since he hadn't looked in a mirror in a while.

He was a strikingly beautiful man.

Though he wouldn't use the word _beautiful_ to discribe himself any. It was far too sissy like. And his daddy had knocked everything sissy like out of him when he was a kid. But that wasn't something that he cared to dwell on now that he was grown and his dad was dead.

He lifted a hand and used it to push some of his long hair back from his face and stared at himself hard in the mirror. He looked just like his no good, child beating daddy. He curled his lips in disgust and let his wet pale hair fall back into place in his eyes. Partially hiding the mismatched forest green and vivid teal eyes.

His hair was a pale silvery color that was a genetic trait as much as the mismatched eyes were. Both traits passed down from his damnedable father right along with his masculine jaw, his lips, his build and height, even his smile was like the old man's. His one redeeming trait- the one that he got from his mother- was his personality.

His mother had been the kindest, most tender hearted person he'd ever seen before. She'd also had a sadistic streak in her a mile deep.

He could still recall her chasing him through the field across from his childhood home, hollering that she was going to skin him alive for one thing or another and causing him to scream in terror and run faster. While the ruckus brought out the neighbors, all of whom sat or stood on their porches or in their yards shaking their heads and laughing at the spectical of him being caught. And dragged back to the house kicking and screaming by his ear.

He reached up and absently rubbed the ear most abused by his mother and felt his lips curve up a little bit at the corners before sliding his hand to his jaw and checked the length of his facial hair to determine how badly he needed to shave, if at all. After a moment or so he decided that it couldn't hurt to go ahead and shave and picked up his electric razor and turned it on and started shaving.

Five minutes later he made his way to his bedroom and glanced for a moment at the forest green, aqua, and silver colored comforter on his bed where the clothes he'd picked out earlier lay and made his way to the cherry oak dresser where he pulled out a black V neck t-shirt and a pair of spandex biker shorts.

Because as stupid as it sounded he liked how much more comfortable they felt against his skin and under his clothes than other kinds of shorts. That and...well they made his dick look bigger. Which he found absolutely hilarious because of the one time he'd been in public and had a kid trip and accidentally pull down his pants.

Red face aside, he'd been the most popular guy in the supermarket. He'd left with a lot of phone numbers too.

He slipped the shorts on over his long muscular legs then grabbed his brush and a rubber band to tie his mid shoulder length hair back with. And started running the bristles through his hair until he had ever snag and tangle taken care of. Then pulled the damp strands back and tied it off with the rubber band then dropped his arms and went over to the bed where he grabbed his faded black jeans and the long sleeved button up green and black checkered shirt.

And pulled them on before heading off to grab his boots and wallet and some money out of his rainy day jar and grab his keys before heading out the door.

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The moving truck stopped on the street corner, outside of a nice two story white house with a patio, sliding glass doors and a wrap around porch with roses and other flowers scattered about. She stared out the window at her new home in both anxiety and anticipation. So this is where she would begin her life again for the last time.

She supposed that she could do worse. She just wished that it wasn't so big. She doubted that she had enough stuff to fill every corner of the house since she'd only brought the basics. A couch, TV, Radio, fridge, washer, dryer, chairs, coffee tables, a few books shelves and books. And lamps of course.

Because she'd grown up hating the darkness and everything that lurked in it.

"Okay Naru-" Her former guardian said, the sound of his voice making her turn in her seat to look at him. "This is the last time we'll see each other unless something happens. But it shouldn't since Sauske and his brother are both behind bars. But here is everything that your parents left to you. Money, deeds to some land, a new ID."

She sighed tiredly. "What's my name this time?"

"Well to be cautious we changed your last name to Alixson."

"So I'll be Naru Alixson?" He nodded and she sighed again, a dull ache forming behind her eyes as she reached out and took the stuff from her former guardian. God today was going to be a pain in the ass. Just like every other time she'd moved.

But she took solace in the fact that this would be the last time.


	4. Chapter 4

Sakumo was on his way home from the store when he noticed the moving trucks sitting in front of old man Morrisons place, the house across the street from his own and paused. He adjusted the bags of cat food and litter in his hand and watched some guys carry out a bookshelf as a girl, a pretty little strawberry blond with her hair tied back in pig tails, wearing a red hoody and skinny jeans came bounding down the porch steps and headed towards the truck.

At a distance he calculated her age to be about fifteen or so. But he might have been off a bit.

He stood there and watched her disappear into the truck and collect several small boxes and piled them one on top of the other and then pick them up and start for the ramp. He tensed up as he noticed that she was a little off in her steps and could only cringe in sympathy as she stepped off into thin air, missing the ramp completely and tumbled forward with a startled scream.

She hit her side and one of her legs on the ramp as she fell and hit the street hard, some of the boxes landing on top of her while others spilled out onto the street.

He saw a guy with dark hair come barreling out of the house and run over to her and sighed. She would be taken care of so there was no need for him to bother. Not when he had a momma cali waiting to bloody his ankles when he got home.

Ya know, on second thought having his ankles bloodied wasn't his best idea of fun so...maybe they could use some of his first aid knowledge. It certainly wouldn't hurt to see. And while he was there he could introduce himself to her parents. He sighed and put his stuff down and ran across the street just as the dark haired man was helping the poor kid up.

"Jesus Naru one of these days your going to wind up breaking your neck!" The man almost shouted.

Sakumo slowed his pace as the girl sort of cringed and wondered if maybe he'd come up on something he shouldn't have seen or heard. But the sheer thought of some asshole hurting a kid just because she'd lost her footing had him on alert. If he saw anything he deemed..._odd_, he'd contact the proper authorities and see to it that whoever the guy shouting at her was- wound up in jail for a good long time.

He was more than half way to them when the guy looked up and saw him, his dark eyes narrowed at him. Apparently not liking the fact that a stranger was hanging about as Sakumo asked if they needed any help. The guy hastily assured Sakumo that the kid was fine and tried to haul her to her feet.

_Tried_ being the operative word.

The girl got almost to her feet before falling down again as Sakumo looked her over and noticed that her pants were torn, she was bleeding and her knee was already swelling up the skin already showing signs of discoloring. The guy tried to haul her to her feet again and Sakumo felt his temper rise as her leg went out on her again and she fell for the second time and tried to pull her arm free of the guy's grasp.

"I don't think she should stand on that knee." Sakumo said in a eerily calm tone as he pointed to her leg. The man growled something about his mother at him and started to try and pull the kid up again. Sakumo's temper got the best of him this time and without warning he stepped in close and reared back his fist and punched the man in the face. Knocking him back over the ramp where he hit the ground with a dull thud before Sakumo bent down and carefully picked the girl up and then growled in a warning tone.

"Stay there or you and I are going to have some trouble." As he started walking across the street to his place since he doubted that the new family would have their first aid kit in a handy dandy place that was easy to find and get too.

He was half way across the street when the girl finally squirmed in his arms and then rested her chin on his shoulder and muttered. "Goddamn Genma- Always has to be a jerk." Sakumo's steps might have faltered if not for the fact that they were in the middle of the street as he blinked in bemusment at her softly spoken words.

"You should be careful about what you say, doll. Your brother doesn't seem to be running on all cylinders."

"He's not my brother."

"Please don't tell me that I punched your dad." Sakumo said more to himself than her. Inwardly cringing at the thought. He felt her slowly shake her head and he sighed in relief before she asked him where he was taking her. He explained about how he doubted that her parents had their first aid kit handy and she fell silent.

He walked up the steps of his porch and stopped to dig around in his pocket, having to shift his grasp on her for a second while he dug out his keys and unlocked the door and opened it. As soon as he stepped foot through the door the cali came running, meowing insistantly. Letting him know that she was hungry, the kittens were driving her crazy and everything else.

"Yes. Yes. You're hungry. I know. Just let me take care of dolly here and I'll feed you." He said as he kicked the door closed behind him and carried the girl he'd dubbed _doll_ or _dolly_ into the living room and set her down then left her to the mercy of the hungry cat while he ran to get his first aid kit.


	5. Chapter 5

"Meow!" The cali said as her tail twitched at the tip in irritation. The newest human, a female from the smell of her- leaned forward in her seat a little bit and glanced down at her.

"Meow..." The female said in a tentative tone as the cali stood up and started pacing around in front of her, meowing as if she were talking to her.

"Meow, meow. Meow, meow, meow, meow! Meow." Naru imagined the feline was speaking to her. Demanding to know things like. _Who are you? What are you doing here in my home? _And smiled faintly before reaching down and placing her hand in front of the feline's face, stopping her from her pacing and letting her curiously sniff at her hand before Naru attempted to pet her.

But the cali was skittish and the second Naru shifted her hand the cat let out the most ferocious growl and hiss that Naru had ever heard out of a small animal and jerked her hand back. And stared at the cat as she sat back down and glared at her as the man from before came walking back into the room with a heating and cooling pad and a small box tucked under his arm.

He took one look at her wide eyed expression and made a growling sound of his own that sent the cat scurrying out of the room to hide...or something. "She didn't scratch you or anything did she?" The man asked in a dark tone.

Naru shook her head no as he stepped further into the room and walked over to where she was sitting and gently took the hand she was cradling against her chest and examined it before making a humming sound and turning his head and raising his voice a little bit. "If you ever scratch one of my house guests cali- I'll shave you bald and toss you outside for a while!"

Naru heard the sound of clawed feet running in a different room and made a snickering sound. "Wow, she's really scared of you, huh?"

"Nah. Not really. She's planning a sneak attack at the moment in retaliation for not being fed on time. She has some kittens to worry about so let's make this as quick as we can so those babies can get their feeding. Oh! I forgot to introduce myself-" The man flushed, embarrassed by his lack of manners.

"Do it while you put something on my knee." Naru said as she took the heating and cooling pad from him and looked at it. Was this the kind of thing that went in the microwave? She wondered as the man knelt down and took it from her and snapped it in half, startling her.

She jumped at the cracking sound and he chuckled and handed it back to her. "Don't look so freaked. This is a special pack- sort of like those damndable glow sticks that kids play with on halloween. It cuts down on time to prepare it for use-" He explained as he lightly slapped her hand away from her knee and then growled. "You don't put that on until I sanitize the bleeding wound. Then and only then do you put the packet on your leg."

"You're aweful bossy." Naru growled back at him as he opened the first aid kit and pulled out some alcohol swabs, bandages and some anti bacterial ointment. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled a little bit.

"Sorry, dolly. It must come from all those years I spent in the military."

"Ah. I thought as much." He set the stuff aside and looked at her, and cocked his head a little bit. "You move like a military man..." Naru said lamely as she thought, _You bark out orders like one too. _

He smiled at her as he tore open one of the alcohol swab packets. "Is your dad in the military?"

"No."

"Oh." Sakumo said in a surprised tone before asking. You're brother then?"

"I don't have a brother. I'm an only child."

"That sucks. There's nothing more lonely than an only child." He said as he started to dab at her leg where the skin was torn and bleeding. Naru twitched and jerked and tried hard not to jump out of her skin as he carefully cleaned the wound before putting some anti bacterial ointment on the wound and said, "My name is Sakumo Hatake by the way."

She twitched as he gently rubbed the ointment into her skin and hesitantly said. "I'm Naru." His mismatched eyes flickered to her face as his fingers stilled for a moment.

"Naru... That's a pretty name for a dolly like you." Naru had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from growling at him again. She felt just a little bit insulted/irritated at being called a 'dolly' though she knew that he didn't mean it the way it sounded.

"I bet your a little heartbreaker at school, huh." Sakumo said with a sunny smile and before Naru could supress anything she hissed at him like the cali had hissed at her earlier and all but shouted.

_"Excuse me, just how frigging old do you think I am, you jerk!"_


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry I'm so slow on updating some of my stuff. I hurt myself the other day and have been typing one handed for the past day or so since burning myself while cooking.

Honest to god, I've suffered bad burns before but never anything to the point where I couldn't move my fingers or hand without crying.

That's what I get for spacing out I guess.

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Sakumo stood at his living room window with a coffee cup in one hand and a little black, orange and brown kitten cradled against his chest as he peeked through the curtains through narrowed eyes at his neighbors house.

It had been four days since he'd met his neighbors kid, Naru- he was beginning to think something funny was going on at the house across the street. There was a car in the drive way, but it hadn't been used since it had been parked.

There was no one coming in and the only person who left the house was the kid. The kitten resting against his shirt made a mewling sound causing Cali (yes, he'd finally given into the inevitable and named the damned furball) to come running across the room from where it's sibling were, and jump up on the back of a chair and press her nose against it's little head.

She licked it before looking at him and baring her sharp little teeth in a mean manner then ran off again. No doubt to go soil another one of his shoes since that seemed to be her favorite place to go potty.

"Stupid cat." Sakumo muttered affectionately. He'd have to break Cali of her bad potty habits and get her to use the litter box before he ran out of shoes. He turned his head back to the window as the front door to the house opened and a small slender figure wearing a red hoody and some black jeans and boots stepped out of the house.

For a moment he wondered if it was Naru's mother. He couldn't really tell since the person was partially hidden in the shadows of the porch where dawns light had yet to stretch out and reach. The figure moved towards the steps and he found himself holding his breath for a moment, and exhaled in disappointment when Naru walked down the steps.

Well hell.

He watched her pull up the hood attached to her hoody and take a moment to stretch at the end of the drive way then stepped out into the street and started to jog away from the house. _Dammit!_ He thought as he slammed his coffee cup down, startling the kitten pressed against his chest wide awake as he bared his teeth and _growled_. Why wasn't Naru in school already? The bus had run over an hour ago.

_Where are her parents? Why isn't one of them driving her to school? Do these people even care that their kid is going to be a little gypsy when she grew up? _He wondered in irritation_. _Why he was of half a mind to march himself over there and kick her father's ass for letting her run around unsupervised all the damn time.

After all it just wasn't safe. He knew of half a dozen convicted criminals and sexual predators that drove through the neighborhood every day. What if one of those bastards decided that they wanted to have a little fun? Naru could be in serious trouble then.

An image of Naru laying on the concrete floor of an abandoned building somewhere with her hoody and her shirt jerked up over her chest and her pants being tugged at by filthy hands while she cried flashed through Sakumo's mind causing him to growl again as he turned away from the window to put the kitten back in it's box.

Once that was done he grabbed his wallet, keys and a jacket and quickly slipped out of his house to go find the girl and make sure that nothing happened to her.

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He didn't bother with jogging. Instead he grabbed his car and went driving in the direction she'd taken off in. He wasn't exactly sure how long it would take for him to find her since there were a considerable amount of shops and cafes and such about half a mile from the neighborhood, but he managed to find the girl anyways.

She was sitting at an outdoor cafe eating a mini muffin with a drink next to her elbow and had a small cell in her hands and was texting someone. He pulled off fo the street and parked the car deciding that he'd simply pretend to have bumped into her so that he could give her a ride home and unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car and started walking.

He ordered a coffee and a fruit thingy since he hadn't had breakfast yet then stepped into the outside area and immidiately spotted Naru. He popped the top of of his fruit thingy and grabbed a few grapes and popped them in his mouth and nervously chewed as he walked over to the empty table next to hers and pretended like he was going to sit down before he 'noticed' her.

"Naru? Is that you?"

Naru nearly jumped out of her skin in her rush to put her phone away before turning her head to look at him. "H-Hat-ake." She stammered as she flushed a cute pink that made him smile as he took his hand off of the seat he'd been pretending to pull out and instead planted himself in the seat next to hers and made himself comfortable.

"Hello. I haven't seen you since the other day. How's your leg? Still hurt?"

Naru looked taken aback by his question as she moved some of her stuff over so that he'd have more room. "Oh my leg is fine. It doesn't hurt so much now when I move it so I've got back into some old habits."

"Old habits?"

"Jogging and stuff..."

"Ah, I see. And are you settling in alright?" He asked as he picked at his fruit thingy until he found some honey dew. _Ohhh_, _jackpot_. He thought as he popped it into his mouth and chewed it slowly as Naru answered him.

"Yeah. The house is big so it's a little lonely. I've actually been thinking about getting a pet or something." She blushed again and he found himself propping his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his palm and studied her.

She looked kind of cute today.

Nothing at all like the little ragamuffin he'd administered first aid too the other day. "What kind of pet were you thinking of getting?" Because he had a whole litter of needy mewling little furballs that he wouldn't mind sharing.

"Well, I sort of like cats and dogs. But I like froggies and birds too." Naru said awkwardly. Sakumo took a sip of his coffee and raised a brow at her. Catas and dogs, frogs and bird? What the hell? Her choice in pets sounded so damn normal.

He had almost expected her to say 'I wanna monkey or a dolphin or a whale!'

Of course if she had he just would have laughed and patted her on the head and said, 'Of course you do. You can't have one- but what the hell? Dream big.'

"I have a whole litter of kittens you could check out. It will be a few weeks before they can be seperated from their mother but your more than welcome to take one or two or even the whole lot of them if you want."

Naru snorted and lowered her head as she put a hand over her mouth and laughed. "I can't take the whole litter! Their mother is going to go nuts over even losing one." Sakumo groaned and dropped his head to the table with a dull thud and muttered in wry amusement.

"God save me." Naru jumped as her phone vibrated in her pants pocket and quietly pulled it out while she though he wasn't paying attention and flicked it open then hissed like that damned Cali he'd found himself saddled with and he lifted his head and looked at her curiously as she quickly typed out something and sent it.

"Something wrong?" He asked in a concerned tone as she set the phone down on the table and picked up her drink.

"No. Just someone being a jerk." She muttered before taking a sip then setting her cup back down.

"An ex boyfriend?"

"No. I don't date. _Ever_." She said in a suddenly cold tone that sent Sakumo's mind to work in a big way.

"What's he texting you about?" He asked, in a deceptively light tone. She flushed again. This time a nice vivid red that almost matched her hoody. Ah, so it's like that. Sakumo thought darkly as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a ten and asked her if she would mind going to get him some muffins like hers. She took the money from him and blinked but didn't say anything.

Instead she got up and walked away. Conveniently leaving her cell behind. Estimating the time it would take for her to reach the register and put in his order, he grabbed her cell and flipped it open to her messages and blinked. He was just a little bit stunned to see that she and whoever she'd been texting with had been speaking about him.

He scrolled down a little ways and paused on the sentance, _My neighbor has been watching the house lately. It's weird._ _I wonder what it is he's looking for... _He hadn't been aware that Naru knew that he had been watching her home. He'd have to be more careful about masking his movements from now on. He th0ought as his eyes skimmed down.

Below Naru's message was one that read. _He's probably a perv, give him a show_.

Naru's reply was a nice bold, _No! I'm not a cock tease asshole. _

The other person's reply was, _LOL. Yes you are. I've seen how you like to dance around in that midriff off the shoulder shirt and your panties-_ A little below the words was a picture of Naru in nothing but a cream colored and mint green midriff shirt and white lace and satin panties. Her back was to the person who'd taken the picture. Her long hair was damp and she held a brush in one hand and was brushing her hair. The slight lift of her arm causing her shirt to ride up dangerously.

Sakumo bared his teeth in a vicious snarl as anger rose up in his chest. _Mother. Fucker. _The kid hadn't even been in town for five frigging days and she already had someone watching her...well, other than him anyways.

He turned his head and checked to see where Naru was and typed out a quick response to the last line and picture.

**_Listen mother fucker, you want to dance? Alright. Lets dance. By three o'clock today I'll have your name, adress, phone number, dick size, shoe size and I will make you rue the day you ever dared to get within picture taking distance of me. _**

**_I see you near my house, my school, or even my block- and I will fucking kill you. _**

He hit send and snapped the phone closed and set it back into place as Naru came walking up with his muffins and change. He smiled at her despite the seething anger churning in his gut and took his things as she sat back down and looked curiously from him to her phone.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Naru asked as her neighbor Mr. Hatake pulled his car out of the cafe parking lot and onto the street.

He glanced over at her and gave her a sunny smile despite the fact that she could tell that he was a little bit annoyed by the fact that she had at first refused to let him drive her home. Making up the excuse that she needed to stop by the grocery store, the local Lowes to buy some paint, and a few other places. Hoping that he would take the subtle, polite hint and leave her alone.

Unfortunately for her the friendly, _dense_ man had changed his tactics and offered from driving her home, to taking her around town. "Well, if your going to get paint and groceries then yeah, letting me give you a lift _is_ sort of necessary." Sakumo said with an amused chuckle. Earning a funny look from Naru as she then settled back in her seat.

And tried to get comfortable despite the fact that she just got the oddest feeling that she'd just been kidnapped. She propped her elbow up on the car door and settled her chin in her hand while sub consciously checking to make sure that her bear spray and taser were still hidden on her, under her hoody.

Sakumo noticed the slight action of her hand from the corner of his eye and surmised that she must have some self defense stuff on her since she seemed to be a pretty level headed kid. "Are you carrying pepper spray and a taser or a small gun?" He asked out of the blue.

Naru jumped and immediately jerked her hand away from the area that she'd patted down a second ago and looked at him wide eyed.

Her expression stricken as she all but climbed her side of the car. Sakumo looked at her and made an odd sound and suddenly turned on his turn signal and whipped the car into an semi empty parking lot and turned it off and half turned to face her.

"Okay, now I know that there is something going on with you- Why are you acting like I'm about to eat you alive?" He asked in an almost angry tone. Naru reached for her seat belt and he reached out and grabbed her hands and held them away from the buckle and growled. "Dammit girl, talk to me!"

"Let go of me!"

"Not until you tell me why a simple observation would cause you to climb the side of my car..."

"I said let go!" She snapped as she tried to pull her hands free of his grasp. But the man had a grip like a monster. Her hands weren't budging. She toyed with the idea of kicking him for a moment but the second she started to shift her legs, he jerked her face down across the seat, almost into his lap. Or rather it would have been his lap if not for the fact that her seat belt was biting into her shoulder, semi pulling her back.

"Not until you tell me what has you so scared!" Sakumo almost shouted at her, startling her into silence. Or maybe it was her position that had her fall silent. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was both angry and embarrassed by this situation.

Angry that this kid obviously felt that she couldn't trust him enough to help her if she was in some sort of trouble.

And embarrassed because her chin was resting on his thigh, dangerously close to his crotch.

_Crap..._ He thought as he slowly let go of one of her hands so that she could push herself up a bit and flushed as he cleared his throat and awkwardly apologised for jerking her over like he had. "Look I get that you probably don't trust me because you don't know me. But if you're in trouble you should tell someone. Me. The cops. Whoever you feel would be a better asset to you." He let go of her other hand and turned back to the front and put his head down on the steering wheel and started to mentally berate himself.

Missing the look of confusion on Naru's face. What the hell? She wondered before blurting out. "What is your problem?" Sakumo lifted his head slightly and blinked at her.

"Problem?" He echoed stupidly. A small frown marring his face.

"You scare the hell out of me then just start acting like nothing happened. What the fuck? Are you bipolar or something?" Naru shrieked at him as she smacked him in the shoulder. He grunted but otherwise didn't react. It wasn't like she'd hurt him anyways.

"No."

"Then what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything aside from wondering why you're so damn jumpy." He said.

"Who wouldn't be jumpy with a predator like you around!" Sakumo raised his head a little more and gave her a blank look, his mind turning over her choice of description. _Predator?_ He- the guy who helped little old ladies across the street and saved pregnant cali's during tornado's- was a predator?

He didn't get it.

Sure he had some rather questionable tendencies from time to time, but he'd never been called a predator before. Though he would suppose that the word fit him. _Sort of_.

He sighed and lifted his head and straightened his spine and ran a hand through his unbound hair then started the car. "Let's forget everything and just get your errands out of the way so that I can take you home."

"Oh. So your not going to try anything weird right now?" Naru asked catiously. He coughed and turned red as he bristled and looked at her as he pulled out into the street and ran his car right into a taxie cab.


	8. Chapter 8

My grandmother was taken to the hospital earlier. It seems like she's just a hairbreath away from dying now. She's so weak that she can't eat, drink or make her way to the bathroom like she used too. So my parents went ahead and called an ambulance and now I'm waiting to see what the doctors say.

*sigh* I hate my life.

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Sakumo got back into his car nearly an hour after hitting the taxie and rested his forehead on the wheel for a moment. Man oh man his car insurance- plus the ticket he'd just gotten, were going to drive his premiums through the roof for the next few months.

He lifted his head from the steering wheel and glanced over at Naru who had been eerily silent since the accident. But then he hadn't really been paying attention to her once they hit the taxie. He'd been so busy with everything else that he hadn't even bothered to ask her if she was even okay.

She had her body curled up, her arms wrapped around her middle, her hood had been pulled up over her head so that her face was difficult to see. "Naru? Hey, are you okay?" He asked curiously as he reached out and put one hand on her shoulder. She twitched under his hand but other wise didn't respond. Concerning him a little bit. "Naru-" He said her name rougher than he intended, his tone sharp as he gently shook her.

Again she twitched. But said nothing. He bit back an oath and shifted his hand up and jerked her hood down hoping that she hadn't been injured and he hadn't noticed.

Because that would just be _awesome_. Really what better way was there to end the day than to spend several hours at the local hospital praying that your passenger wasn't _brain dead_. Dear god if she had been injured and he had ignored it, she could very well be dead now. How would he explain himself to her parents? The thought nearly made him panic as he half turned in his seat and carefully framed her face with his hands and turned her head.

Her eyes were closed, and he couldn't see any bruises or broken skin or blood. He frowned, not understanding why she wasn't responding to the sound of his voice or the feel of his hands on her skin. Her lips parted slightly and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her warm breath on his fingertips.

"Naru? Naru? **_Naru!_**" He used one hand to smooth her hair back from her face as he said her name more insistantly. She twitched again as her eyelids fluttered open and she looked at him.

"Mr. Hatake?"

He took several deep breaths to calm his rattled nerves and smiled at her. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. I just thought I'd take a nap so I wouldn't get in your way-" Naru said as she rubbed one of her eyes in an effort to wake up a little more.

Sakumo sighed in relief and dropped his hands from her and hung his head for a moment. _Oh god_ _that had been close._ He thought as he put a hand over his heart. He'd just come dangerously close to having a heart attack. "Has everything been taken care of?" She asked tiredly and he nodded his head curtly as he turned back around in his seat and put his hands on the wheel and started the car.

It was a good thing that the tow truck driver that had come by earlier had been kind enough to relocate Sakumo's car to the parking lot of a bank, out of the way or they would have been run over several times by now. "Yeah. Everything has been taken care of."

"That's good. How much did it cost you?" Naru asked curiously. As Sakumo tightened his hands on the wheel in irritation and had to suppress the urge to growl at her. After all it was her fault that he'd crashed his car in the first place.

Still, he felt that he should let her know how much money she had cost him with her little prank. If nothing else maybe she'd feel guilty for what she had done. "A thousand dollars total. The ticket, the taxie's repairs, not to mention the repairs to my own car as well as the insurance. Happy now?"

"A thousand, huh? That's pretty steep." He glanced at her with this unhappy look on his face. And Naru felt a small twinge of guilt for joking with someone who took things so seriously.

"No shit." He replied in a tense tone after a moment or so. He seemed to be rather upset with her for causing him to crash his car. Not that she could blame him any.

"I'll pay for it."

He snorted and had to bite back a laugh. "With what exactly? Your easy bake oven?" Naru narrowed her eyes at him, his sarcasm wounding her. So she looked like a kid. She got it already! There was no reason for him to keep throwing the fact that she looked like a kid in her face. The jerk.

"Pull over."

"We aren't even out of the parking lot-"

"I said pull over." Naru growled as she unfastened her seat belt. Sakumo looked a little surprised at her tone and slowed the car automatically and finally came to a stop over by the side walk and shifted gears so that the car wouldn't roll into the street and gave her a questioning look as she opened the door and got out.

"Naru, what are you-" He started to ask her what she thought she was doing when she slammed the car door closed and started walking off. _What the hell? _Sakumo wondered as he made a frustrated sound and pulled out onto the road and started trailing behind her at a snails pace.

At one point he managed to catch up to her at a red light and tried to convince her to get back into the car but she slammed her palms against his car door and snarled something so vicious at him that all he could do was flush and gape at her as she walked away from him again. _Good lord_... He had never heard a woman use such language before.

_Well, if I wasn't planning to speak with her parents before I certainly will now. _He thought as he decided to call it a day and go home. If she wasn't back at the house in an hour or so he'd come back and look for her.


	9. Chapter 9

My grandmother was taken to the hospital earlier. It seems like she's just a hairbreath away from dying now. She's suffering from conjestive heart failure, phenomia, a kidney infection and keeps going into A-phib.

So starting tomorrow I'll be sitting with her up at the hospital until she's either let go or dies.

*sigh* I hate my life.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Back at his home, Sakumo took up his spot at the window and waited. He felt far too angry, worried and restless to do much else than wait and watch and see if Naru returned home on her own.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there, just staring at her house- But by the time the third hour rolled around it had started to rain heavily and there was still no sign of her. _Dammit! _

_Where is she? She should have come home by now._ Sakumo thought in frustration as he set Cali down and headed for the door intending to go out and look for the little shit like he'd meant too over an hour ago.

He snagged his jacket and shrugged into it and grasped the door knob and started to open the door. He stepped out and paused when he caught sight of Naru's red hoody draped over the railing of his porch with a thick white, sealed envelope with the words; **_Not a kid, dumbass. Take the damned money and pay your stuff off. Any arguments you have will result in immidiate and painful retaliation._**

He picked up the envelope and frowned as he read the words scrawled across the crisp paper and then ripped it open and blinked at the hundred dollar bills that he pulled out. He counted the bills five times.

There was exactly one thousand dollars, literally in his hands and instead of feeling _grateful_ or _impressed_ that Naru was the sort of little gal that took responsibility for her mistakes... All he felt was fury.

White hot, blinding, fury.

He growled menacingly and stuffed the money back into the envelope and grabbed her hoody and quickly made his way down the porch steps and over to the fence surrounding his yard and opened the gate and headed across the street. Ignoring the chill in the wind and the fact that the rain was soaking through his hair and the layers of his clothes.

It was time that someone put that little hellcat in her place.

He'd start by trying to resist the urge to throttle her right in front of her parents, then he'd give her a tongue lashing the likes of which would make her retreat to her room and not come out for a good long while. Maybe the next time he saw her she'd be a little less likely to irritate the hell out of him.

He reached the front door of the house and wiped some of the rain from his face and glared at the opening. As pissed as he felt he couldn't help but admire the workmanship that went into the door and it's frame.

Shaking his head rufefully he reached out and rapped on the door with his knuckles then waited.

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Naru had known from the beginning that Sakumo Hatake was going to come over and possibly fight with her again once he found the money. After all he was a humble man, but he was also a man with pride. It wouldn't sit well with him to accept chairity from a 'kid' for any reason.

And though she knew this, that didn't mean that she cared. She was merely taking responsibility for her part in the destruction of his propery, among other things. _And_ _nothing else. _She heard him rap on the door with his knuckles and snorted as she rolled over under the covers of her bed.

The son of a bitch had better not expect a reception of any kind right now. Not after what he had pulled on her earlier. She was wet and cold, and she wasn't totally sure but she had this odd feeling that he'd messed with her cell phone when she'd gotten him some muffins this morning.

And after the run in she'd had with one of Genma's friends after she had left Sakumo behind, she wasn't moving an inch from her bed for any reason.

If she did, she'd likely pass out from the bruised ribs she'd gotten when the guy had tried to beat her ass down. She heard him knock harder and more insistantly on the door and grabbed her pillow and put it over her head to block out the sound of his hand hitting the wood while trying to focus on taking shallow breaths. _The bastard._

She hoped he got struck by lightening while he was on his way back across the street.


	10. Chapter 10

Sakumo waited patiently for close to ten minutes before his patience snapped. Why the hell wasn't anyone answering the door? He wondered in frustration as he punched the door, not caring if he possibly broke his fingers. Or that the skin along his knuckles had torn and he left a little bit of blood on the white door. He walked along the length of the porch, trying to look for a way in.

Worried that something might be wrong and stopped cold when he came across the door to the laundry room.

It was slightly ajar. The bottom dropped out of his stomach and he looked around to make sure that he couldn't be seen from the street. Luckily there was a thicket of large flowering bushes and trees hiding the door from view as he folded the envelope and stuffed it into his back pocket and quietly slipped inside the house.

He cautiously made his way from room to room in the downstairs, looking for any noticable signs that someone other than Naru and her family had been in the house and upon finding none, figured that the door must have been ajar because Naru had come in that way and simply hadn't shut it well. He tried calling out a few times to announce his presence. But it was so quiet that after the second time, he just stopped.

_God this place is like a tomb._ He thought darkly as he made his way to the stairs and stopped for a second when he noticed the little puddle of water there. Ah so someone was home after all. He mused as he started up the stairs, his heart thudding in his chest.

He suddenly felt nervous about going upstairs. He wasn't sure why he suddenly felt so nervous, maybe it was because he wasn't invited. Maybe it was because he didn't know Naru's parents and was somewhat worried that he might accidentally walk in on something that he shouldn't see.

Whatever it was, it gave him pause. Until...

He heard the faint squeak of a bed and looked up towards the second floor and narrowed his eyes a little bit and started moving again. Each step he took becoming more and more stealthy as he moved.

He reached the second floor and silently made his way down the hall to what he assumed was the master bedroom and peeked through the crack in the door and saw neon blue walls decorated in water color paintings of various flowers. An old fashioned white vanity complete with a small seat and oval mirror sat across from a large shelf with books, a sterio, some CD's.

Something shifted under the covers of the bed, drawing his eyes to the full sized bed in it's antique oak frame, the aquqa coverlet on the top of the bed, the small pile of clothes and the first aid kid- He pulled back a little bit and frowned. What the devil was that doing out? The bed squeaked again and this time he heard a pained hiss that sounded familiar to him.

_Naru?_ His mind registered the sound of her voice and before he could stop himself he pushed the door open and stomped over to the bed and jerked the covers back, telling himself that he was doing so just to make sure that it was actually her.

The girl in question was laying on her back with her eyes closed until the covers were pulled down. Then her eyes snapped open and she gave him a deer caught in the headlights look as he reached down and grabbed her by the arms and started to pull her upright. She got a panicked look on her face and grabbed his wrists and started to say something when he jerked her upright.

Naru let out a pained scream that startled him so badly that he almost dropped her, all the blood draining from her face a second before she went totally limp in his grasp. Her eyes rolled back in her head and he swore as he shifted his hold on her so that his arms were wrapped around her and just stood there, shaking with her in his grasp wondering what the hell he'd just done to hurt her.

He couldn't possibly have grabbed her that hard...could he?

He checked her arms first. Wanting to make sure that he hadn't broken or yanked anything out of place then when he finished that he noticed her breathing was irregular. Which was unusual considering that she had been breathing just fine a few hours ago.

He glanced down at the first aid kit and frowned again as he slipped one arm under her legs and picked her up completely so that she wouldn't just be hanging there in his grasp like a little doll and felt her try to jerk away from the hand he'd placed on her ribs. She made a pained sound, her features contorting and he laid her back down on the bed and out of curiosity pulled the hem of her damp shirt up and hissed in anger at what he saw.

Sakumo had seen a lot of things as a marine, but the extent of abuse that children suffered- whether it was in another country or right in your own back yard- was _always_ difficult to stomach. Much like seeing the fist shaped bruises along Naru's right side and lower abdomen.

"Jesus Christ, Naru... what happened?" He muttered to himself as he lightly ran his finger tips over the blue black wounds before pulling her shirt back down into place and grabbing the covers and pulled them up to her chin and then sat back with a sigh.

Shit. He couldn't just chew her out and leave. Not after seeing her hurt like this. Not when there was a chance that her dad may be the one responsible for doing this to her. Which meant that he had only two choices.

1) He could call child services and report a potential abuse case to them and have her removed from her home. Which in itself would be cruel since she had just moved here. Or 2) He could decide to hang out with her for a little while and maybe find out who had hurt her so that he could go and do something about that person.


	11. Chapter 11

Mammaw has gone into kidney failure.

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Naru lay unconscious on her bed for about an hour before finally waking up to the carefully probing touch of her neighbor as he ran his fingers along her ribs then her abdomen. She grabbed her wrist in her hand and opened her eyes to glare at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked in a rough tone, her throat sore from the pained scream that had escaped her earlier.

Sakumo's mismatched eyes met hers and his dark expression faltered for a moment. "Oh, your awake." He said in a slightly surprised tone as she dug her sharp little nails into his wrist.

"I asked you a question?" Naru hissed at him as he carefully pried her fingers from his wrist and drew his hands back.

"Hn. So you did. Though one would think that you would ask something else first. Like 'what are you doing in my room' or 'are you a pervert' or something." Sakumo said with a small scowl on his face as he grasped the hem of her shirt and pulled it back down around her hips, then sat back.

"How about you answer me before I get up and kick your ass." Naru growled. Sakumo chuckled at her ill temper and supposed that it was inevitable that she would feel pissed by his presence in her home. Especially since she was wounded and he didn't have anyone's permission to be there.

"I'd be surprised if you could lift either of your legs high enough. But to answer your question, I was checking for internal bleeding or your condition worsening. Anything that would warrent a trip to the hospital."

"It's just bruised ribs-"

"Don't down play this Naru. Bruised ribs could easily become a life threatening condition if there is any damage to your insides. All it takes is a bone fragment or shard, digging into your organs... So if you feel any abnormal pain you should let me know." He said as he got up off of the bed and relocated himself across the room to look out the window.

It was almost six in the evening and he had yet to see or sense anyone coming to the house. Which worried him more than he cared to admit. Where were Naru's parents? They should have come home by now, shouldn't they? Surely they knew that Naru was hurt and might need help...

"Where are your parents?" He asked all of a sudden as he turned around to look at her. Naru paused in mid movement, trying to push herself upright a little bit and looked at him wide eyed. He sighed and walked back over to the bed and slid his hands under her arm pits and pulled her upright a little bit, then stuffed several pillows behind her back so that she would be more comfortable.

Once that was done he stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to answer his question. Naru squirmed a little bit under his gaze for all appearances trying to make herself more comfortable. But Sakumo knew better. She didn't want to answer him. "Where are your parents Naru?" He asked again, his tone gentle and coaxing.

She gave him a dirty look and grabbed the lamp from the table beside the bed and picked it up, ignoring the shooting pain in her side and tried to throw it at him but he caught her wrist and stopped her as he pried the light from her grasp and set it back down. "Get out."

"I'm not leaving you alone in this condition until I know that you'll be safe here."

"You overbearing dumbass! The reason I'm hurt is your fault! Did you think I wouldn't find out that you had messed with my phone?" Sakumo looked taken aback for a moment then paled. _Oh shit. _He thought as she screamed at him. "And what the hell is with you touching something that doesn't belong to you anyways? Why can't you just mind your own damned buisness!"

He opened his mouth to defend himself but then shut it again, no longer sure that he had the right to say anything to her. Even if he argued that he had done it to try and scare the person that had taken her picture off, she wouldn't believe him. If he said anything about trying to _protect_ her- She would think him a fool.

And she was right. He should mind his own buisness.

But for some odd reason he just _couldn't_ seem to leave her alone. He kept telling himself that it was because she was a kid and needed to be taken care of but the truth of the matter was more complicated than that. Or at least it seemed so to him because he liked her. As in liked, _liked_ her.

Her strength, her temper, her independence-

_Oh god what have I gotten myself into?_ He asked himself a little more seriously than he had before. The answer was simple. He'd gotten himself into something that he just couldn't walk away from. He opened his mouth yet again to say something but the only sound that escaped him was a hysterical sounding squeak. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be this close to her. Not right now.

So after floundering for several moments for something to say, he finally snapped his mouth closed and turned around and all but ran out of the room.


	12. Chapter 12

That had been more than several days ago.

And while Sakumo knew that he shouldn't have left her alone with her ribs messed up like they were, he had.

He had simply felt that there was no choice where Naru was concerned. She was too hurt and angry to let him help her at the moment and well...if what she had said was true about her ribs being messed up because of him, then he needed to apologize.

And while apologizing to her wasn't going to be all that hard (after all guilt had a way of eating away at him) getting her to accept the fact that he hadn't meant to get her hurt would be another story altogether.

In the meantime, he was giving her some space. Knowing that rest was better for her at the moment than fighting with him. It didn't stop him from checking on her, everyday at ten in the morning, four in the afternoon and at eight at night.

Making sure to wait until her pain meds kicked in until he bothered to check on her and even left her some home cooked meals straight from his own kitchen to spare her the agony of moving too much and cooking her own meals.

Today he was planning to fix fried buttermilk chicken, homemade mashed potatos, peas and a lemon flavored pudding. He had just started soaking the chicken thighs and legs in buttermilk so that the flour would stick to it better when his phone rang. Drawing his attention to the counter over by his microwave where he kept his phone.

Thinking it odd that he had a phone call when he had a private number that wasn't listed, yet was curious never the less, he started to take a step away from the bowl of chicken and milk when Cali came slinking in and he paused when she looked at him then glanced at the bowl sitting on the other counter.

"You do it and I'll kill you-" Sakumo said in warning as she licked her lips and then gave him an wide eyed innocent look as he used his foot to nudge her back out of the kitchen so that he could get to the phone without worrying about her getting by him, and picked the phone up and said in a suspicious tone, "Who is this?"

_"Well, that's a rude hello if I've ever heard one..." _Naru's voice said in a slurred tone from the other end, causing him to whip his head around and look out his nearest window at the house across the street through narrowed eyes.

"Naru?"

_"Hm?" _

"How did you get my number?" There was a small pause and he got the impression that she was about to lie to him when he hissed, "_My unlisted, private_ _number_."

_"I used some skills from my misspent youth to get it-" _Sakumo snorted. Now there was a lie if he ever heard one. And he'd call her on it too, but after he found out why she was calling him.

"What do you want?" He asked in an irritated tone as Cali came bounding back into the room and headed straight for the chicken bowl.

He made a low growling sound, and quickly dropped the phone and lunged for the cat at the same exact moment she went airborn, and grabbed her and thumped her lightly on the bottom as she glared up at him, and meowed as he tucked her under one arm like a football then returned to the phone.

Naru went silent when she heard what sounded like a small struggle and waited, knowing that he'd come back to the phone in a moment. Which was fine since she wasn't going anywhere anyways after slipping on the floor of her livingroom and hit her head. Which was why she probably felt a little fuzzy at the moment.

Her fucking floor had possibly given her a concussion. That and she jad jarred her ribs when she fell and wasn't feeling all that well. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to focus on her own breathing when she heard some noise from the other end of the line followed by, "Sorry. The cat and I are waging a war. Now what did you want again?" Sakumo asked in a slightly irked tone.

"Well, I've sort of fallen in my livingroom and I can't get up. No wait- that isn't right. I could get up, but I'm very disoriented and my ribs are killing me-"

"Give me two minutes." Sakumo said with a frown as he hung up then tossed Cali out of the kitchen and grabbed up the bowl of chicken and put it in the fridge and headed towards the door wondering what the damn girl had done to herself.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey kittens sorry I'm late with this chapter- but I've been having horrible health problems.****And on top of that I have a family member run down in a hit and run and another shot. **

**So lately to improve our luck I've taken to picking four leaf clovers... S****o far it isn't working since I went to a cancer walk the other night and my lantern drifted into the crowd and almost set a tent on fire.**

(************************************************* *******************)

_Women._ Sakumo thought as he bounded up the pourch steps of Naru's home and quickly checked the door, luckily for him the little trouble maker must have been up and about before phoning him- so the door was unlocked. Peering through the glass, he made out a small, bare foot peeking out from around the corner of the kitchen island and swore under his breath.

Dear god this girl hadn't half a brain in her head, did she?

Quickly opening the door, he shouldered his way through a slit he created so that anyone passing by wouldn't notice him much. After all between him and her busted up ribs, he highly doubted that Naru would like her home invaded by some of the more nosey busybodies of the neighborhood.

Like the blue hairs that had been trying to marry him off against his will. Things with them had become so bad that he now expected the whole damn lot of them to show up on his doorstep every other week or so with a granddaughter, daughter, niece or whoever they could dig up to parade in front of him. And as a man he would admit that some of the ladies looked mighty good.

But they weren't for him.

No, he needed a lady that from time to time kick his ass then turn around and be a damsel in distress. It was an odd combination, sure, but _dammit_ that's what he looked for in a woman. Someone who could knock him back in line if he went too far, yet needed him. However so far it seemed that the only lady he was destined to have in his life was Cali. And as cute as she and her kittens were, they could also be a pain in the ass.

Once inside the door, he quickly closed it and locked it- suddenly paranoid that the blue hairs might show up.

"S-Sakumo?" Naru's voice called out and he felt a shiver run down his spine. His mouth went dry and he found it hard to think of a response. It was irritating, and just a little bit weird. He'd never felt so speechless because of a girl before. Yet here he was as silent as a grave while Naru started to panic. "Uh... I have dogs! Big dogs with sharp teeth. And I know karate too! So if your name isn't Sakumo- then get the hell out of my house!"

Moving quietly from the door to the kitchen, he peeked over the island and caught sight of Naru's face and inwardly cringed at the tears in her eyes. Thinking fast, he played the 'I'm _deaf'_ card. "I'm sorry Naru. I didn't hear you. Are you okay? Did you hurt your ribs again when you fell?" He asked as he made his way around the corner of the island- and just barely missed being kicked in the privates by Naru.

Who was obviously lashing out because he had scared her. Sidestepping her leg, he grasped her ankle lightly in his hand and stared down at her for a moment torn between making her apologize to him and simply helping her up. Sighing he moved just a bit to the left, careful to avoid further leg movement from her, and bent down and slipped his hands under her arms and simply pulled.

She weighed so little that he was in awe and just a bit shocked as he managed to get her up on her feet.

"There that better?" He asked as some of her hair fell in her face, making his fingers itch to tuck the strand back in place. It was either that or maybe he'd buy her some nice flower hair clips the next time he went out into town. Yeah, maybe she would appreciate that better.

Naru blinked and rested one hand against the island and the other against her throbbing head and sighed softly before replying. "Yeah, thanks." Frowning, Sakumo lightly grasped Naru's wrist and pulled it away from her head causing her to turn her head slightly and give him a cautious look that he just knew had an unpleasant story behind it, and pushed her hand down to her side as he said,

"You hit your head when you fell, didn't you?"

Naru flushed slightly under his scrutiny and looked away. "No." She said in a sulky tone that had him stepping into her personal space and suddenly scooping her up and carrying her into the livingroom where he set her down on the couch, and then quickly checked her head by running his fingers through her hair while trying to ignore how soft and silky it was.

"You have a goose egg, right here-" He said as he pressed down on the swollen skin on the back of her head. Earning a hiss of pain from her as she tried to wrench her head from his grasp. Never to be one deterred by such things, Sakumo held on and simply ghosted his fingers over the bump in an effort to sooth the pain he had caused as he said, "Naru I need you to listen carefully to what I say to you. You probably have a concussion which means that you can't stay here by yourself. _Where are your parents_?" He bit out the last part from between clenched teeth.

Naru looked at him, her wide eyes stricken before she looked away again making Sakumo want to growl in frustration. Almost completely missing Naru's whispered answer.

_"They're dead."_


	14. Chapter 14

Sakumo stilled for a heartbeat or two and looked down at Naru before blurting out, "Excuse me? What did you just say?" It had sounded suspiciously like she had just told him that her parents were dead. But if that was true- Who the hell was taking care of her? Sending her to school? Paying for the big house she lived in? The food she ate? The clothing that she wore?

She couldn't do it. Not unless she was a drug dealer or some shit.

Come to think of it, maybe he should ask her if she was a drug dealer. Cause god knew how much morgage rates were for houses as big and nice as the one she lived in. "Uh, Naru...are you by chance a drug dealer?"

"No. I'm a prostitute." She lied in a deadpan tone as she glared up at him as all the color bled from his face and his eyes went as wide as saucers. _Holy fuck- _Sakumo thought before abruptly shutting his thoughts down. He needed to think.

"Please tell me that you're joking." He croaked after a moment or so of stunned silence. Naru gave him a tight lipped smile that looked out of place coming from a kid. It looked cynical. Jaded. It didn't match the images of innocence she seemed to project when he was around her.

_It would explain how she pays for the house._ Part of his mind whispered before the other part of it that actually _cared_ about Naru and her well being quickly squished it's counter part like a bug. Hesitating for a moment he drew back so that he could see her face better and asked, "So how long have you...uh, been into the sex trade?"

Wow. That question sounded so wrong coming from him. But if he had heard it coming from anyone else his age- he would have promptly sent the speaker to the ER.

Naru gave a small laugh at the horrified expression on his face and winched slightly when her head started to hurt just a bit more, and leaned back in her seat before saying. "Oh...a few years-" He cringed as she let out another small laugh. "Don't look so horrified. It's actually a very good job to have if you know what your doing and are good at it. All you have to do is get your client off and get paid." Sakumo cringed again at how she described her work.

There was no love.

No emotional attachment.

Nothing but emptiness.

Even her expression was carefully blank. But her eyes- god, her eyes made him think that all of the shit she was saying was a lie. Lord knew that he wanted to believe it was a lie. That she was just some nice girl with a fucked up sense of humor who had fallen on hard times, and was trying to protect herself from getting hurt by creating an elaborate story about being something that she wasn't to push people away.

_She's lying to you. _His carefully honed instincts whispered to him. _She's lying about what she is and what she does. _He was almost certain of it... Almost.

But if she wasn't in the sex trade then what the hell was going on? Were her parents really dead? Did she have other family that helped her and simply didn't want to speak of them? Was she an heiress of some kind and simply dind't want to say so? Yeah that sort of made sense. She must be a heiress. His mind desperately grasped at the idea, hoping against hope while trying to iron out details.

Perhaps if she was an heiress, she ran a company or something under an assumed name from her computer.

It was certainly something to consider before he totally bought into the whole 'hooker' angle cause she wasn't like any hooker he'd ever come across. Sure she was close mouthed and had intimate knowledge of the work- but any Tom, Dick and Harry with half a brain watching Law and Order SVU could learn that shit. And Naru definately had more than half a brain in her head. So it was totally plausable that that was what was going on here.

Why she never went to school. Why she was always out at odd hours- it was probably because she was conducting buisness in the area. Yeah that was it. _Oh just admit to yourself that if you ever thought anything suspicious was happening upstairs in that nice little room of hers, you would come running from across the street like your pants were on fire and toss any men up there- out the window in the hopes of breaking their damned necks. _Some dark part of his mind said causing Sakumo to shake his head as if to clear it.

Uh, no. No he wouldn't.

Not out the window at least. Because if he did and someone died, he'd be a murderer. And he had left his killing days behind him a long time ago. Finally after several minutes of silence he lifted a hand and used his thumb to rub over his left eye and asked, "Do you have an heating and cooling pack and an ice pack?" Naru was quiet as she considered his question before nodding.

"Both are in the fridge. Lower shelf."

"Both?"

"I was using them earlier. It's sort of why I fell. I had gotten out of bed to come get them and slipped."

"Oh, okay. I'll go get them for you. You just hang out here and try not to move too much. If you get any more wounds you'll have to go to the ER." Sakumo said as he lightly patted one of her knees before standing up to go and fetch said items. Leaving Naru sitting on the couch among the cushions.


End file.
